The Hollow Men: Lucius Malfoy
by Silver Sailor Ganymede
Summary: Lucius Malfoy is well known as a servant of the Dark Lord - but what led him to choose the path of darkness?
1. First Impressions

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

_**(A.N: I had the idea to write about a number of characters and what led them to pursue the Dark Arts and eventually end up in service to Voldemort. Lucius Malfoy's story will be the first in this series. The others I've decided to do are Severus Snape, Regulus Black, Barty Crouch Jr and Peter Pettigrew. However, if anyone particularly wants be to write about any other Death Eater feel free to request that I write their story as well)**_

The Hollow Men: Lucius Malfoy  
By Silver Sailor Ganymede

I. First Impressions

Lucius Malfoy was ten years old when his parents finally decided that he was old enough to attend the Yule Ball that was held at the Malfoy Manor each year. Normally children did not attend the Yule Ball until they had started Hogwarts, but Lucius' mother had insisted that her husband make an exception for their son, mature, talented and wonderful as he was. Lucius privately thought that his mother had no idea as to the full extent of his brilliance, but that was hardly surprising given the fact that he only really saw her once a week, if that.

The majority of ten-year-old boys would have been quite horrified at the prospect of having to socialise with adults for a whole evening, having to wear smart dress robes, having to speak only when spoken to, having to be shown off to large groups of people, and generally just having to be perfectly-behaved. Lucius, however, looked forward to it with relish; he knew that it would be a good opportunity to ingratiate himself with people, to get them to tell him (innocent child as he was) things that were supposed to be secret and use said secrets against them at a later date if necessary. Yes, even though he was only a child Lucius had the makings of a most perfect Slytherin.

On the morning before the Yule Ball took place, Agrippina Malfoy decided that it was of the utmost necessity to buy new dress robes (she would go herself, for the purchasing of dress robes was certainly not a task that could be entrusted to house elves) and made up her mind to take her young son with her whether he liked it or not. Unlike most children Lucius did not complain when faced with this task, for he had been taught that the image one showed to the world decided ones fate; it a man looked dull and uninspired, people would assume he was and so he wouldn't get anywhere, but if a man looked astute and sharp people would assume so and thus he would be able to go far in life.

The only bit of the shopping trip idea that Lucius had any problem with was the fact that his mother was insisting that they travel by floo power. He didn't see why they couldn't just travel by side-along apparition – it may have felt slightly uncomfortable, but at least it never resulted in his being completely covered in soot. Having dirt of any sort on his robes made Lucius feel ill; after all, he wouldn't want anyone to mistake him, a noble member of the house of Malfoy, for a filthy little mudblood, would he?

However, his mother won the argument, as usual, and the ended up travelling directly to Twilfitt and Tatting's via the floo network (his mother absolutely refused to shop anywhere else for fear of running the risk of encountering a mudblood).

Lucius sulked momentarily while he waited for his mother to spell the coal-dust off their robes, and made up his mind that the first thing he was going to do upon arriving at Hogwarts was to come up with a way to make the floo system a lot cleaner and thus far more pleasant to travel by.

"Get that look off your face, Lucius; its unbecoming of you," Agrippina chided her son before turning to the shopkeeper, whom Lucius quickly learnt was Arachne Twilfitt.

As his mother fussed about what robes she was going to buy, Lucius decided to spend some time looking around the shop. It was really rather interesting, he decided. There were rails upon rails of brightly coloured cloaks and robes, all made of different materials – some dour enough that they reminded him of his great-grandmother, others so brightly coloured that he knew his father wouldn't even allow them in the house.

Eventually Agrippina managed to decide on a set of dress robes, midnight blue ones that complimented the darkness of her hair yet brought out the brilliant blue of her eyes. Lucius had inherited his colouring from his father.

"Now, what shall we dress you in?" Arachne Twilfitt began fussing over Lucius, as pleased as a young girl who had been given a new doll to dress up.

"Slytherin green?" his mother suggested and Arachne Twilfitt gave her a horrified look.

"Absolutely not, Lady Malfoy. With your son's complexion green will make him look like an inferius!"

Lucius scowled at her. Evidently this woman had no skill with words.

"No. I recommend this," she pulled out a set of pale gold robes that made Lucius want to gag. There was no way on earth that he was willingly going to wear Gryffindor colours, and he promptly told the shopkeeper that.

"_I _like these," Lucius stated, pointing to a set of black, velvet dress robes, which had silver piping around the edges of the sleeves and the high-necked collar.

Agrippina shook her head in astonishment. "Ten-years-old and he already insists on dressing like his father."

"I see nothing wrong with that, mother," Lucius replied. "Father looks like a perfectly respectable Slytherin gentleman, and I don't see why I shouldn't as well." He was somewhat annoyed when he noticed that both women were trying to suppress laughter.

"I suppose we'll take those, then," his mother said. She handed the money over to Arachne Twilfitt, and was about to leave when someone else came into the shop. Agrippina suppressed a cry of delight.

"Cassandra Pyrites!" she cried. "Why, I haven't seen you in months, my dear. How are you? I hope that Argo's writing isn't keeping him away from home too much."

The woman in question was as fair as his mother was dark, and had a small boy of around Lucius' age tagging along behind her. The boy caught sight of Lucius and rolled his eyes as their mothers and the shopkeeper engaged in rapid conversation.

The boy walked over to Lucius, smirking in the way that alls Slytherins and Slytherins-to-be seem want to do. He looked like a miniature version of his mother, with shoulder length dark-blonde curls and startlingly green eyes.

"Talaus Pyrites," the boy said, offering his hand to Lucius, who noticed that he was wearing white gloves that appeared to be made of silk.

"Lucius Malfoy," Lucius replied, taking the boy's hand. Yes, those gloves were definitely made of silk. How peculiar.

"So you start Hogwarts next year too, I presume."

"Indeed I do. Hopefully I'll see you in Slytherin."

"Naturally."

It was then that their mothers interrupted their conversation.

"Now I really must be getting on with buying Talaus some new gloves," Cassandra Pyrites was saying. "It's my way of apologising for having to leave him with those _dreadful _house elves while we come to your ball this evening."

Talaus leaned over to Lucius and whispered, "I'm not complaining. I get to practice my curses while she's out of the house."

Lucius suppressed a snigger. Here was someone who had his own way over thinking, finally.

"We ought to be going now," Lucius' mother was saying. "Very nice to see you again, Arachne. And Cassandra, you must bring your son with you next time you come over for tea; that way our sons can get to know each other better before they start school."

Lucius was feeling rather pleased with himself at having made a new contact before the Yule Ball had even begun – so pleased with himself, in fact, that he even forgot to complain about the fact that they had to make the journey home to the manor by floo.

* * *

Lucius Malfoy flinched slightly as his mother yanked his hair back into a ponytail and fastened a black, silk bow into place. The bow was not something the Lucius was too fond of (he remembered last Yuletide in particular, when they had gone to visit the Blacks and Bellatrix Black had taunted him mercilessly, saying that it made him look like a girl) but alas it was something that could not be avoided on formal occasions such as this one.

His fathered entered the room and appraised the situation, then nodded approvingly.

"Excellent. Now that we all look presentable, I suppose it's time to go and greet our guests." Abraxas Malfoy looked strikingly similar to his son, the only difference being that his hair was cut short enough that he did not have to bother humiliating himself by tying it up with a silk bow. He was wearing robes of Slytherin green, and Lucius couldn't help but notice that he did look slightly ill – either Arachne Twilfitt was right about green not suiting their colouring or his father's nerves were playing up again. As Abraxas Malfoy was far from the most sociable of people, Lucius strongly suspected the latter.

His father led them downstairs into the main ballroom, where a large number of the guests had already arrived. Among them he noticed, to his dismay, Bellatrix Black, though luckily he rather-nicer sister Andromeda was present as well. The only other young people present were the Lestrange brothers, Rodolphus and Rabastan, Augustus Rookwood, Janus Yaxley and Linus Travers. Lucius quickly made up his mind that any attempts at ingratiating himself with them would be rather a waste of his time, and instead decided to stick close to his mother for the remainder of the evening – at least insofar as possible.

The beginning of the evening went smoothly enough: all Lucius was required to do was be polite and charming to his mother's friends, who all immediately seemed amazed by what a perfect little Slytherin he was. Sadly this was doomed not to last, as his mother was called away to deal with troublesome house elves that weren't preparing the cakes exactly as she'd commanded (no, the stupid creatures had decided to edit them somewhat!), and Lucius found himself in the clutches of the beautiful, deadly Bellatrix Black.

The dark girl was already in her fourth year at Hogwarts, and her tales of the dark magic she had learnt were enough to send chills up Lucius' spine. He hoped that he would be at least as powerful as her by the time he reached the fourth year. Actually he didn't hope – he knew, and he knew he could easily surpass her, too. However, that didn't make her any less intimidating at that moment in time.

"Why, young Lucius!" she exclaimed in mock-surprise, grabbing his arm and all but dragging him over to the table where the group of Slytherins had seated themselves. "You haven't said hello to us yet. And you haven't asked me to dance. I must say I'm quite offended!"

Lucius flinched. Perhaps his manners had slipped a little there, but he had no wish to dance with Bellatrix Black. Her sister Andromeda, perhaps, but certainly not Bellatrix; she would probably hex him in the middle of the ballroom for her own amusement.

He muttered a barely audible apology to the older girl, who was now busy showing him off to her fellow Slytherins.

"Look who has come to join us," Bellatrix exclaimed.

Rabastan Lestrange frowned, confused. "I thought you didn't start Hogwarts until next year. At least I haven't seen you in the common room; one would have thought that you'd be hard to miss. Unless of course you've been sorted into another house."

Lucius flushed angrily at that, wishing he had a wand and knew enough curses to make Rabastan Lestrange shut up permanently.

"Of course he hasn't started Hogwarts yet, you fool," Rodolphus corrected his brother, rolling his eyes as he did so. "I believe his mother made a special exception in allowing him to come to the ball early, just like she did for Andromeda when she was ten. Besides, how could a Malfoy be sorted into anything other than Slytherin?"

Rabastan did shut up then, and Lucius said a silent thank you to Rodolphus. If he had decided to protect Lucius from any daft jibes then that meant that he was safe from Bellatrix – at least for now. Rodolphus was the only one to whom Bellatrix Black actually listened.

As luck would have it Lucius turned out not to be in need of Rodolphus' protection for very much longer, as his father appeared and led him away by the arm.

"Apologies for stealing my son away from you, children, but we have business to attend to," Abraxas Malfoy said coldly, leading Lucius across to the other side of the ballroom. Lucius was very surprised when his father led him out of the ballroom and down the corridor. He wondered whether he had done anything wrong, but then he noticed that his father didn't have the annoyed look in his eyes that he always had whenever Lucius did something that displeased him. This was a very confusing situation.

Eventually, after having taken so many turns and been up so many staircases that Lucius felt lost, they stopped. Lucius realised that they were in the east wing of the house, which hadn't been used in years. What on earth were they doing there? Before he had time to ask, his father had opened the door and led him into one of the guest rooms.

A tall, pale man with jet-black hair was sitting on the bed. He wore the same Slytherin-green robes as Abraxas Malfoy did, but they made him look striking rather than ill. Lucius noted with shock that the man's eyes were red, and wondered if he was a vampire.

A cold grin appeared on the man's face. "No, my dear boy. I am no vampire." Lucius shivered – the man's voice was even icier than his grin, and it was very disconcerting that he just seemed to have read his thoughts. His father had mentioned that there were people who could do that (Lucius couldn't remember what the proper name for them was) but he had never met one in person.

"Lucius, this is Lord Voldemort," Abraxas Malfoy said at last. "My lord, this is my son, Lucius Ajax Malfoy."

Lucius briefly wondered why his father was addressing this man as 'my lord' (after all, he knew very well that there were no wizarding families that were superior to his own), and then realised that he had never heard of the house of Voldemort. It sounded French, but Lucius was quite certain that he knew all the names of the French pureblood dynasties. Evidently his history of magic needed work before he went off to Hogwarts, as this man must be a pureblood or his father wouldn't be addressing him at all, let alone in such respectful tones.

"It is my pleasure to meet you, Lord Voldemort," Lucius said, bowing as he had been taught.

"Lord Voldemort is a descendent of Slytherin himself," Abraxas told his son, who looked up at the dark-haired man in surprise upon hearing that.

"Indeed I am," Lord Voldemort replied. "And I can tell that your son will make a fine Slytherin, too, from the way his mind is working. I will keep an eye on him in particular."

"Why are you here instead of at the party?" Lucius blurted out, curiosity getting the better of him. "I'm sure everyone would be delighted to meet a wizard of such pure and noble heritage, and…"

Abraxas looked at him pointedly and he fell silent. "Lord Voldemort has much more pressing concerns than having to mingle with hundreds of wizards, all of whom he already knows."

"Don't be too harsh on the boy," Lord Voldemort drawled. "A thirst for knowledge is good; after all, knowledge is power, is it not?"

"Y…yes, my lord."

"You see, Lucius Ajax Malfoy, I am here to see your father and a select few others later this evening," Lord Voldemort explained. "You have only been allowed to meet me because I requested in specifically. And my suspicions were right – you will do very well in my ancestor's house."

Lucius flushed wish pride, "Thank you, my lord," he said, copying the form of address his father had used with this man. He noticed Abraxas pale slightly, though luckily Lord Voldemort did not.

"Now get back to your party; you have guests to entertain," Lord Voldemort said coldly. "I will speak to you all later in the evening."

"Yes, my lord," Abraxas replied, bowing again as they left the room.

They began to walk down the corridor. Abraxas turned to his son and said, "You must not tell anyone that you saw the Dark Lord here tonight, understood?"

"Yes, father" Lucius replied. "But why do they call him the Dark Lord?"

"Because he is the most powerful wizard ever to have lived," came Abraxas' reply.

Thus went Lucius Malfoy's first meeting with Lord Voldemort.


	2. Do Not Wake a Sleeping Serpent

II. Do not Wake a Sleeping Serpent

Lucius Malfoy was eleven-years-old and waiting eagerly to begin his time at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He was excited, but of course he wasn't about to show that to anyone; to show ones emotions to everyone was to give them an opportunity to get the upper hand in a situation, and Lucius could not risk that happening. He was a Slytherin after all – or at least he would be come the end of the day.

Lucius had been awake since five that morning, and had had all the things he needed packed for hours. A couple of sets of school robes were folded neatly at the bottom of his trunk, along with his cauldron, telescope, school books, quills, ink, parchment, chess set, notebooks and a couple of the more advanced books that his father had given him, but which his mother had no clue about. She would have been rather unimpressed had she known that her only son was studying O.W.L-level hexes before he even properly started Hogwarts.

His crow, which he had had since the age of seven and had predictably named Corvus, had already been sent to fly ahead to Hogwarts. It was really rather criminal to keep such an intelligent bird in a cage, Lucius thought, and the bird would have no trouble finding its way to Hogwarts. Why, it would probably arrive at the school long before Lucius did, so he didn't see any reason to worry.

It was nearly ten-o-clock and Lucius was starting to get nervous. They were going to take a portkey to Kings Cross Station. Lucius had to admit that this was one of the most exciting parts of the day. Kings Cross Station was right in the heart of muggle London, and Lucius had never been anywhere entirely muggle before; his father said they were disgusting creatures, so Lucius was expecting the conditions in muggle London to be horrendous, but nevertheless he was looking forward to learning something new.

Finally his mother knocked on his bedroom door and entered the room, followed by his father. Abraxas Malfoy threw a tattered old boot onto Lucius bed and the young Malfoy wrinkled his nose.

"What is _that_?" he asked, thoroughly unimpressed by the fact that there was a rotting old boot sitting on his silk bed-sheets.

"That," his father replied icily, "is the portkey which is going to take us to that blasted, muggle-infested station."

Lucius mentally sighed. He hadn't heard his father so annoyed about anything in a very long time; evidently their time at the station was not going to be a fun one.

"Now Lucius, make sure you hold on tightly to the portkey," his mother was saying. "And for goodness sake try to land on your feet. We don't want you looking like some clumsy muggle, now do we?"

"Of course not, mother," Lucius replied, wondering whether he should tell her that he hadn't fallen over while travelling by portkey since… well, never.

"Right, grab onto the portkey now," his father was saying. "It'll leave in five… four… three… two…"

Lucius felt as though a hook had been embedded into his navel as he was yanked off the ground and send tumbling through space and time. The world spun around him and he felt as though he could see everything everywhere… and then the ground came up to meet him and it took every inch is his strength not to lose his balance.

"Well done," his mother said to him, brushing off his robes and attempting to make him not appear windswept; unsurprisingly this was a difficult task, given that they'd just been hurled through space at around a million miles an hour. Amazingly Lucius was soon looking as prim and proper as ever, and as soon as Abraxas had cast the necessary invisibility spells ("It wouldn't do for us to be seen by that muggle filth!") they made their way into the train station.

Lucius gazed around in fascination. The muggles wore such odd clothes – their robes had two parts to them, if they even resembled robes at all, and they wore hats that weren't pointed! It was all very odd indeed.

His mother seemed to find the whole situation more disturbing than interesting, as even though he couldn't see her, Lucius could feel her grip on his wrist as they walked towards Platform 9¾. It was making him very uncomfortable, but she was holding on so tightly that it would have been impossible to shake her off.

Lucius soon began to wonder where Platform 9¾ was. The platforms here seemed to go straight from number nine to number ten, and he couldn't seen anyone or anything that implied the presence of wizards.

It was then that Lucius noticed that they were headed straight towards a ticket-barrier, but instead of skirting round it Lucius' mother began to run at it. If they didn't stop they were going to crash right into it and go flying.

And then they were through and Lucius found himself standing on Platform 9¾. Abraxas threw the cloaking charms off and they walked along the platform, Abraxas levitating his son's luggage ahead of them.

"Agrippina!" they heard a familiar shout and noticed Cassandra Pyrites waving over at them. Talaus was leaning out of the window of the carriage next to her, as was a small boy with startlingly dark hair and eyes. The Malfoys headed over to them.

"I'm just keeping an eye on Talaus and Nyctimus," Cassandra said. "I thought Lucius may want to join them in their carriage. Of course they're all going to be in Slytherin together this year, I just know it, so why not let them get off to an early start?"

Lucius personally thought that this was a very good idea. He had become rather close to Talaus over the last year, and of course he knew Nyctimus, who was his first cousin on his mother's side.

Abraxas levitated Lucius' things into the carriage, and the Malfoy heir climbed into the train to join his fellow Slytherins-to-be. The first thing he couldn't help but notice was that the interior of the train was rather shabby. Then again it was a ridiculous muggle contraption, so it was bound to be rather awful. He took a seat by the window, opposite the other two boys, and then turned out the window to listen to bits of the conversation his parents were having with Talaus' mother.

"Of course when Rhianedd said she and Octavius were both busy I naturally volunteered to bring Nyctimus here," Cassandra Pyrites was saying. "It would have been awful for the boy to have had to make the journey here on his own. He must be so nervous"

Lucius cast a quick glance over at his cousin, who had already buried his head in a copy of 'Magick Moste Fowle' and appeared to be ignoring every word Talaus' mother was saying. Far from looking nervous, Nyctimus looked almost bored.

Finally the train sprung to life as the whistle went off. Talaus was not quite quick enough to dodge out of his mother's way as she decided to give him a goodbye kiss, but luckily Agrippina Malfoy had enough sense to spare her son such public humiliation.

"Just remember to behave," she called to him.

"And always remember that you are a Malfoy, no matter what those muggle loving fools would try to tell you," his father instructed. Remember that he was a Malfoy? How could Lucius possibly forget?

The train began to move away from the station gradually picking up speed until eventually the platform disappeared completely from sight.

Lucius looked over at Talaus and Nyctimus and smirked. "So, this is how we begin our time at Hogwarts together."

"How do you know we're going to be together?" Nyctimus drawled, not even bothering to look up from his book.

"Because you're all noble purebloods and if the hat puts you anywhere other than Slytherin it's obviously going senile." Lucius looked up to see Rodolphus and Rabastan Lestrange standing in the doorway accompanied, much to Lucius' distaste, by Bellatrix Black.

Bellatrix sent a cold, false smile in their direction. "Dromeda will be along shortly, just to let you know. And didn't you boys realise that this is our carriage? Move." She yanked Talaus out of his seat and the younger boy, sulking, sat down next to Lucius instead.

"They can stay here if they want," Rodolphus chastised Bellatrix. "It's not like they're a bunch of Hufflepuff or Gryffindor brats, is it? These are our fellow Slytherins, and who can they learn more from than us, the rulers of the house?" He glanced over at Nyctimus, who looked marginally more interested than he had before the older Slytherins had entered, Talaus, who looked quite terrified, and Lucius, who was doing his best to look impassive even though he really wasn't thrilled at having to sit directly opposite Bellatrix Black of all people. "To put it plainly, you can stay in here so long as you don't annoy us, and so long as Bella gets her usual window seat, understood?"

"But of course, Rodolphus," Lucius replied, while Talaus and Nyctimus just nodded.

"Excellent," Rodolphus said, clapping his hands. "Oh look, there's Dromeda. And it looks like she's found Rookwood at last!"

Andromeda Black entered the carriage with Augustus Rookwood right on her heels.

"You're late, Augustus," Rodolphus noted.

"Prefect meeting," came the reply. "They were spouting such rubbish. You're lucky none of you are prefects."

"I wouldn't want to be one," Bellatrix replied curtly. "All that stupid business of having to patrol corridors when I could be doing something useful with my time. Then again I'm sure _you'll_ end up a prefect when you get to fifth year, Dromeda, goody-two-shoes like you."

The second year's eyes flashed. "Kindly refrain from insulting me, sister," she said, taking a seat as far away from Bellatrix as possible.

"So," Augustus spoke again. "Anyone we've marked down for Slytherin this year?"

"The eldest Greengrass girl and the only Rosier one are coming to Hogwarts this year," Rodolphus replied. "I'm quite certain that they'll be in Slytherin alongside these three." He gestured towards Lucius, Talaus and Nyctimus.

"I suppose the Macmillan boy might make it into Slytherin as well," Rabastan suggested, only to be met with a look of horror from his brother.

"Don't be an idiot, Rab," he snapped. "They're a load of filthy bloodtraitors; none of _them _are _ever _going to be worthy of the most noble house of Slytherin."

"Here here," said Bellatrix. "Although bloodtraitors are rather fun to play with, wouldn't you agree?"

"No until next week, Bella. If you go scaring first years in the first week again this year Slughorn might just have your head," Rodolphus chided her. "She managed to convince Peeves to harass a bunch of ickle firsties on the third day of term last year. Of course she had to pick the bloody Ravenclaws, who at least had enough sense to get it out of Peeves who it was that was taunting them and then reported her to Slughorn."

"He didn't exactly _do _anything about it though," Bellatrix snapped. "I didn't even get detention."

"Yes, but I'm not letting you do the same thing again," Rodolphus replied. "There's a good chance we'll lose house points if there's a repeat incident, you know that."

Bellatrix opened her mouth to argue but Augustus cut her off before she could. "So, it looks like we'll have a rather small crop this year then, hmmm?"

Lucius sunk back into his seat and decided to spend the rest of the train ride simply listening to the older students. If this was anything to go by then his time at Hogwarts was going to be very interesting indeed.

* * *

The train was finally slowing to a halt. Lucius was very pleased by this development, as the day had seemed to go on forever. He just wanted the sorting to be over and done with so he knew for certain that he was going to be in Slytherin. The sorting was, after all, one of the most important events of a wizard's life; it wouldn't do to end up in Hufflepuff, as Hufflepuff was the place where failures went, and once a failure always a failure. Bellatrix had decided to taunt him about that earlier this afternoon, and while Lucius had pretended to pay no heed, much to the older girl's annoyance, her words really had bothered him somewhat.

"Off you get," Augustus said, nudging Lucius out of the door. "First years are meant to head over that way, over to where that half-breed fool with the lamp is. Rab, Dromeda, you follow us and we'll take you over to the coaches; this is how you'll get to the castle from now on."

"We'll see you in Slytherin later!" Rodolphus called as the soon-to-be-first-year-Slytherins walked away, heading over to where a man that strongly resembled a giant was waiting, holding a lamp and calling for all first years to follow him. Lucius wrinkled his nose in disgust; _this _was their welcoming party? A filthy half-giant? Father would have had a fit had he known that such horrid creatures were working at the school.

Lucius looked at the people around him, his fellow first years, and was horrified when he realised how few of them were first years. He was doomed to spend the next seven years of his life in a castle infested with mudbloods? He made up his mind that when he had a son he certainly wasn't going to let him come here, not if there was so much scum present.

"Three to a boat," the half-giant shouted, and Lucius, Talaus and Nyctimus jumped into one of the ancient looking boats that were waiting next to them in order to make sure that they wouldn't be stuck in close proximity with any mudbloods.

The boats started to move and some people gasped with amazement.

"It's like magic," he heard someone gasp, causing Lucius to repress a shudder and Talaus to snigger outright.

"Proves exactly how stupid muggles are, doesn't it?" Lucius drawled, and Talaus and Nyctimus nodded in agreement.

Finally they reached the other side of the lake and scrambled up a passageway into the castle itself. Many people gasped upon seeing the inside of the school, but Lucius was far from impressed. This place was nowhere near as grand as his family's summer home in southern France, not at all.

A man with a very thick moustache was waiting for them in the hallway. Lucius immediately realised that this was Professor Slughorn, potions professor and head of Slytherin house.

"Welcome to Hogwarts," Slughorn said jovially. "Why the nervous faces, everyone? The sorting is nothing to be scared about; it's only one of the most important events of your life."

Some of the first years paled; Lucius tried not to laugh.

"Well, of your school life anyway. You see there are four houses here at Hogwarts, each with its own long history and each of which has produced numerous talented witches and wizards."

"Except Hufflepuff," Talaus muttered to Lucius.

Slughorn either did not here him or simply pretended not to. "These four houses are Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. Your house will effectively be your family during your time here at Hogwarts. Good work and outstanding achievements will earn you house points. Any rule breaking will result in your house losing points. The house with the most points at the end of the year will win the house cup."

Lucius smiled smugly as he remembered Rodolphus Lestrange saying that Slytherin had succeeded in winning the house cup for the last eight years in a row.

"I suppose that's the introductions over and done with. Now follow me and let your fate be decided!" He spun around and a pair of heavy oak doors opened. They entered a vast room, the size of which impressed even Lucius, though of course he wasn't going to admit that. The four house tables took up the majority of the hall, with the professors sitting at a long table on a raised dais overlooking the students.

Slughorn stopped and the first years lined up in from of him. Lucius caught sight of a rather mouldy looking hat standing on a three-legged stool in front of them.

"Right, when I call out your name you will put on the hat," Slughorn said.

"They're not honestly expecting us to _touch_ that, are they?" Talaus asked Lucius, looking absolutely repulsed by the very idea.

"Apparently so," Lucius replied, then stopped short as the hat began to sing.

Talaus, however, didn't seem to think that they needed to listen to a thing that was being said. "So _that's _how we get sorted? I'm going to _kill_ Bellatrix."

Bellatrix Black had spent a large part of the train ride delighting in telling the new first years how they were expected to battle a manticore as a way of deciding whether they really were powerful enough wizards to stay at Hogwarts.

"Please tell me you didn't believe her?" Lucius asked him, appalled. "Because if you did, Tal, you're as gullible as a Hufflepuff!"

The sound of applause filled the hall and Lucius and Talaus rushed to join in with it even though they hadn't been paying the slightest attention to the hat. Why would they need to? They already knew which house they were going to be in.

Slughorn began to call out the names.

"Appleby, Enid." A small girl with long blonde pigtails ran up to the stool and placed the hat on her head.

"Hufflepuff!"

"Such a promising start to the year," Nyctimus drawled sarcastically. Lucius agreed with him.

"Aston, Michael."

"Ravenclaw!"

Lucius realised that none of their names would be coming up any time soon. Malfoy, Pyrites and Selwyn were all sadly near the end of the alphabet.

Lucius joined in with the applause as 'Greengrass, Aegle' was unsurprisingly made the first new Slytherin of the year.

No more Slytherins joined the group until they reached the Ls, where 'Lovegood, Artemisia' surprisingly joined there house.

"The Lovegoods are usually Ravenclaws," Nyctimus noted with interest, but Lucius had no time to dwell on that because the next name to be called was "Malfoy, Lucius."

He stepped forward in a leisurely manner, trying to make it look as though he wasn't nervous at all even though his heart was racing. He put the hat on his head, thinking that if the blasted thing even considered putting him in Hufflepuff he was going to turn it to a pile of ash.

"Don't worry," said the hat in his ear. "Only a fool would decide to put _you_ in Hufflepuff, Mr. Malfoy. You certainly aren't a Hufflepuff. Brave enough for Gryffindor, yes, but you aren't rash so that's rather out of the question. Intelligent enough for Ravenclaw but you're really not so interested in knowledge for it's own sake are you. No, there's only one option for you, Mr. Malfoy…

"Slytherin!" it screamed to the hall.

Lucius got up and took off the hat, feeling very pleased with himself. He had become a Slytherin, just like he'd always known he would. He took a seat next to Augustus Rookwood and turned his attention back to the sorting. Talaus quickly became a Slytherin, followed by 'Rosier, Dolores' (as the older Slytherins had predicted.) Nyctimus was made the final Slytherin of their year, and Lucius' attention had almost entirely drifted away from the proceedings at the front of the hall by the time the last remaining first year ('Young, Richard') was sorted into Gryffindor.

"Excellent turnout this year," Augustus said to Lucius as the feast itself began. "That means we haven't got a single halfblood left in this house – there were two in the year that just left though." He shuddered at the thought.

"Bit of a surprise about the Lovegood girl though," Rodolphus noted. "They're usually in Ravenclaw."

"Yes, but they're purebloods and aren't bloodtraitors, so it's of no consequence," Augustus replied.

Lucius turned his attention away from Augustus and Rodolphus and back to Talaus, who was sitting on his other side.

"I think I'm going to have to wash my hair five times tonight before I can get the smell of old hat out of it," Talaus muttered. He looked rather ill, Lucius noted.

Nyctimus shot him an incredulous look. "You have got to be kidding me," he muttered. "We've just achieved the most important thing of our lives so far and all you're worried about is the fact that you've just had an old hat on your head? You're such a _girl_, Tal."

Unsurprisingly Talaus and Nyctimus didn't speak to each other for the remainder of the feast.

Eventually, after dinner and dessert had left Lucius feeling rather full, the plates disappeared. The headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, who was apparently another of those muggle loving fools from what Lucius had heard, stood up and announced that it was time for them all to go to bed.

"Right," Augustus Rookwood called as he stood up. "First years follow me. For godssake we don't want anyone getting lost on the way to the common room this year." He shot Bellatrix a warning look, but the eldest Black sister merely smiled in reply.

Lucius and the other first years followed Augustus back into the entrance hall, down numerous flights of stairs into the heart of the castle's dungeons. Lucius guessed that they must be somewhere directly under the lake which they had sailed over to get to the castle.

Finally they stopped next to what appeared to be a blank stretch of wall.

"Right, here we are," Augustus said. "This is the entrance to the Slytherin common room and dormitories. Only Slytherin students are allowed in here, and we can only get in if we say the correct password. The current password is serpensortia."

Lucius thought this was rather clever. Serpensortia, whereby a wizard could make a snake materialise from nowhere, was a favourite spell of his.

"Serpensortia," Augustus said to the wall, which slid open to reveal a large room, which was dimly lit by the green flames in the fireplace and by the torches that were scattered along the walls.

"Girls' dormitories are down the stairs to my left and boys' dormitories are down the stairs to my right. We also have our own library, which is up the stairs over in that corner." He gestured to a staircase leading up to another level, which appeared to be crammed with bookcases and tables. "So we can study without being disturbed by idiots from other houses."

"Very good, Rookwood. I'll take it from here," someone interrupted him and Professor Slughorn appeared as if from nowhere.

"Right then everyone, I'd like you to welcome Misses Greengrass, Lovegood and Rosier, and Masters Malfoy, Pyrites and Selwyn to the noble house of Slytherin," Slughorn said. There was a short burst of applause and Slughorn said, "Very good indeed to have you all with us. I expect you all to make Slytherin proud.

"Now, it's past midnight so I'd strongly recommend that you get to bed. Seventh years – my office now. We're going to have some firewhisky to welcome you back – not, of course, that the professor has to know about this," he said brightly. "Now off you go. Goodnight."

With that Slughorn and the seventh years, four girls and two boys, all of whom Lucius recognised but none of whom he could remember the names of at that moment, left the common room and Lucius found himself being ushered down to his dormitory by Augustus Rookwood.

He led them through a door marked 'first years', which in turn led to another corridor with three doors leading off it.

"Malfoy, the door down the bottom there is yours. Selwyn, your room is on my right: Pyrites, yours is on my left," Augustus said. "I know you were expecting dormitories, and while Hufflepuff and Gryffindor do have them, we Slytherins and the Ravenclaws have enough sense to know how important personal space is. That door over there leads to the your bathroom, so for Hekate's sake don't go wandering round the castle in the middle of the night like a bunch of lost Hufflepuffs trying to find a bathroom when there's one right here. Goodnight."

With that he left. Unsurprisingly Talaus headed straight for the bathroom, desperate to get the smell of the Sorting Hat out of his hair. Lucius and Nyctimus headed to their respective rooms. Lucius noted that his things had already been organised for him – evidently they had house elves at Hogwarts just like they did at home.

Lucius got into bed and had just about fallen to sleep when he felt someone climb into bed next to him. From the strong smell of hair potions he knew it was Talaus.

"What are you _doing_?" Lucius muttered.

"They can forget it if they think I'm sleeping on my own on my first night in this creepy great castle," Talaus replied. "Especially is Bellatrix Black is so close to us. Safety in numbers, right?"

"Right," Lucius sighed, realising that the other boy wasn't going to leave.

"Night, Lucius."

"Night, Tal."

* * *

The rest of the year was almost singularly uneventful. Lucius discovered that his strong point was defence against the dark arts, that he invariably earned Slytherin house points during potions, that the ancient history of magic professor was the most boring person alive (though barely, Lucius noted) and that he absolutely despised herbology. The young herbology professor, Professor Sprout, seemed to dislike Lucius and Talaus as much as they hated her subject, and towards the end of the year she could not put up with the two boys any longer.

The dung-eating daffodils were the final straw.

"I am _not _handling _those_," Lucius told the professor as soon as she announced what they were expected to do. It was June, he had been putting up with her since September, and there was no way on earth that he was going to be caught feeding dung to bizarrely mutated plants.

"You are if you want to pass this class, Mr Malfoy," Sprout said sternly.

"I don't care about passing this blasted class," Lucius curtly replied.

"You will talk to your professors with more respect than that, Mr Malfoy."

Lucius laughed. As if he was going to treat a _Hufflepuff _with respect.

"I agree with Lucius," Talaus said. "Herbology is servants' work."

"Exactly," Lucius agreed. "And besides, dung-eating daffodils aren't useful for any potions that I know of, so we'll never need to work with them anyway. This lesson is totally irrelevant."

He noticed the other Slytherins and a handful of the Ravenclaws failing to repress their sniggers.

"Also," Talaus continued, "you're as mad as you look if you honestly think I'm going to risk getting dirt on my gloves."

A few people laughed outright at this and Sprout lost her temper. "Twenty points from Slytherin for your cheek, Mr Malfoy, Mr Pyrites." She turned to a Ravenclaw girl who was giggling uncontrollably. "And ten points from Ravenclaw, Miss Spinks." She turned back to Lucius and Talaus. "If you two have a serious problem with this lesson then kindly leave and discuss this with Professor Slughorn later."

Lucius looked at Talaus. Talaus looked at Lucius.

"Alright, bye then," Lucius said, walking out of the greenhouse and slamming the door shut behind them,

Talaus burst out laughing. "That was brilliant! Why didn't we do that at the beginning of the year? If we had I might never have had to do herbology at all!"

Evidently, however, it wasn't the best day for the two boys, as Professor Slughorn wasn't teaching at that time and had decided to take a walk around the ground. He caught sight of them and called them over.

"Would you care to explain why you're not in class?" Slughorn asked.

"Professor Sprout expected us to feed dung to daffodils," Lucius explained. "And we really should not have to waste our time on such ridiculous activities. My parents let the house elves tend to such matters – and besides that we've never needed to use dung-eating daffodils for anything. So we told the professor how irrelevant the lesson was and she told us to leave and tell you if we had a problem with it. So here we are, and it's rather lucky we've run into you, professor, so we could tell you our grievances sooner."

Surprisingly Professor Slughorn looked amused rather than annoyed. "I've been telling her to get rid of that lesson for the past five years. You're completely right! Forty points to Slytherin for showing a bit of common sense! Now come on, let's go to my office and have a cup of tea, shall we?"

The rest of Slytherin house had heard about this by the end of the day, and Lucius and Talaus found themselves met with numerous congratulations from their fellow Slytherins for having put that stupid half-blood professor in her place. The only one who didn't seem impressed by Lucius' and Talaus' antics was Nyctimus, who merely stated that he was clearly the only boy in their year, as Lucius and Talaus were evidently both girls if they were afraid of a bit of dirt.

* * *

Lucius passed his exams with flying colours, coming in at the top of his year when the results were announced. This had pleased his father, who had given Lucius a sack of galleons and bought him a new racing broom as soon as he got home.

However, Lucius' father seemed to have one more surprise in store for him, as he had called him to his study that evening. Lucius was rather excited about this, as he had never before been allowed to go into his father's study. That was the one room in the manor that he was banned from going into, and he was curious to see what was stored there.

After he had been waiting outside for what felt like an age, the door to his father's study finally opened and Abraxas called for his son to come inside.

At first Lucius felt rather disappointed. His father's study was full of the same kind of heavy, dark, wooden furniture that one found throughout Malfoy Manor, and the bookcases were the same as the ones in the library. Then he caught sight of some of the titles on the books ('Magicke Moste Fowle', which he had managed to borrow of Nyctimus earlier in the year, was one of them, but there were far darker books there, ones that would never have been allowed past the school gates) and his interested grew.

Abraxas noted the fascinated expression on his son's face and nodded approvingly.

"I see you've already taken an interested in the Dark Arts?" Abraxas asked. Lucius wasn't sure whether to admit to this, but he nodded eventually. "Excellent. Now that you've completed your first year of schooling I think that it is time for me to begin teaching you them. Alas that they are not on the curriculum at your school, but no matter; I will teach you better than any of those dunderheads that pass for teachers now ever would have been able to."

It took a moment for Lucius to realise what his father had just said.

"You… you mean you're offering to teach me dark magic, father?" Lucius said, hardly able to contain his surprise.

"Yes. I was intending to wait until next year, but your marks in the end of year exams convinced me otherwise. You're easily capable of handling this now. Just keep this in mind at all times – the Darks Arts truly are an _art_, and art must be treated with the respect it deserves. Do you understand?"

"Yes, father."

"Excellent," Abraxas replied. He stood up and pulled a selection of books from the shelves behind him. "These are the texts they use at the Durmstrang Institute; the Dark Arts are on the curriculum there as an O.W.L subject, but I'm sure you can manage the basics now. Now go and study; I want you to have memorised the first of these books by the end of next week."

"Yes, father," Lucius replied, and with that he hurried out of the room, eager to learn as much as he possibly could about the Dark Arts.

* * *

It was nearing the end of the summer and Lucius Malfoy had been intensively studying the Dark Arts for almost three months. He had already managed to master a number of particularly unpleasant curses (for example the gastronicontortious curse, which caused a person's insides to become twisted and misplaced and put them in extreme pain). His father had started training him to use the Unforgivable Curses already as well, but while he could perform the Imperius Curse with an ease that even shocked his father, he could only just hurt the house elves when casting a Cruciatus and had yet to do more than produce a spark of green light when trying to cast the killing curse. His father had told him not to worry, that even mastering the Imperius at such a young age was a wonderful achievement. It was not until many years later that his father confessed that the Unforgivables weren't taught at Durmstrang until seventh year, and that he had simply been using this as a way to measure his son's raw abilities).

As well as teaching his son the Dark Arts, Abraxas Malfoy also decided to continue teaching him pureblood theory – that is exactly why half-breeds and mudbloods are dangerous to the well being of the wizarding world as a whole. It was while Abraxas was focusing particularly on that that the Malfoy family received another visit from someone whom Lucius had not seen in almost two years – Lord Voldemort.

The man's visit had taken Abraxas by surprise, but soon he, Arthur Rosier (who, if Lucius remembered correctly, was Dolores' father), Regulus Lestrange (Rabastan and Rodolphus' father), Ptolemy Avery, Solomon Mulciber, Avery Nott and Lucius' father were gathered in the living room alongside Lord Voldemort. The men had been discussing things in there for hours (Lucius knew not what), but after a time his father came and fetched him away from his studies in order to present him to Lord Voldemort a second time.

"My lord," Lucius said as he entered the room, following his father's example and bowing to the red-eyed, sable-haired man who so resembled a vampire.

"Lucius Ajax Malfoy," Lord Voldemort acknowledged him. "Please, take a seat," he gestured for Lucius to sit in the chair next to him as though it were his house and not Abraxas'. "I knew I was right about you. A perfect Slytherin, more than worthy of my ancestor's house. And your father tells me that you have already mastered the Imperius curse – is that correct?"

"Yes," Lucius replied, "my lord," he added upon noticing a pointed stare from his father.

Lord Voldemort stared intently at him and Lucius felt vaguely as though the man was looking straight through him. He truly must have been a legilimens (for that was what those mind readers were known as, Lucius now knew). Whatever he saw must have pleased Lord Voldemort, and he nodded in delight.

"Yes," he said, "You truly do show vast potential. Now tell me, Lucius, what are your opinions on muggles?"

"They must be dominated by wizards for the greater good of the world," Lucius replied, quoting a passage from one of Grindelwald's works as he knew he was expected to do.

"And mudbloods?"

"They're even worse than muggles," Lucius spat. "Hogwarts is full of them! Though luckily Slytherin is totally devoid of any of the filthy creatures. They're a threat to us, exposing our secrets to their stupid muggle families. They shouldn't be allowed to train as wizards at all."

"So you're suggesting we get rid of mudbloods, Lucius?" Lord Voldemort asked.

"Yes," the boy replied. "That is exactly what I'm suggesting."

"Then we think alike," Lord Voldemort replied. "You have taught your son well, Abraxas. He will do will in my service."

Lucius frowned. What did he mean 'in his service'?

"I mean that I will give you an opportunity to serve me in the same way your father does," Lord Voldemort replied. "You are still very young so I shan't bind you to anything yet, but I see great promise in you, Lucius Ajax Malfoy. Now tell me, do you wish to serve Lord Voldemort, to join us in our quest to rid the world of mudblood filth."

"Yes, my lord," Lucius answered immediately. In doing this he knew that he would make his father so proud; he had to do it. He had to.

"Then you shall be my eyes and ears at Hogwarts," Lord Voldemort said. "And you are to make sure that none of your fellow Slytherins are fooled by the traitorous nonsense that muggle loving fool Albus Dumbledore wants them to believe. Understood?"

"Yes, my lord."

"Excellent."

Thus went Lucius Malfoy's second meeting with Lord Voldemort.


	3. The Arts of Slytherin

III. The Arts of Slytherin

So it came to pass that Lucius Ajax Malfoy became a faithful follower of the Dark Lord. His second year was an interesting one for Lucius, as he managed to become seeker for the Slytherin team, winning them the Quidditch cup as well as the House cup for the second year in a row. As well as this he was chosen by Slughorn as a member of an organisation nicknamed 'The Slug Club', which included all the well-connected students at Hogwarts.

However, it was not until the Christmas holidays of his third year that Lucius found himself required to actually do anything on the Dark Lord's behalf. His father had called him into his study once again, and that in itself was enough to tell Lucius that something important was soon to happen. He did not, however, expect to hear the words that his father eventually spoke; leastways he had not been expecting to hear them for quite some time yet.

"Lord Voldemort is thankful for your service, my son," Abraxas told him. "He is grateful for all the information about the school which you have passed onto him through me, however minor and seemingly inconsequential this information is. But now the time has come where the Dark Lord wishes for you to actively serve him."

"And how does he wish me to do this, father?" Lucius asked.

"The Dark Lord is of the opinion that your command of the Dark Arts has reached a sufficient level that you would be capable of instructing your fellow students in the discipline," Abraxas explained. "I must say that I agree with his judgement entirely on this matter; your command of the Imperius and Cruciatus curses is of a higher calibre than that of many wizards far older than yourself.

"As well as this we have reason to believe, from the information you have passed on to us and from other… sources we have, that there are a number of your fellow Slytherins who would be more than willing to aid the Dark Lord's caused. However, to do that they must be proficient in the Dark Arts – which, of course, is where you come in.

"As for places in which to practice, I feel I ought to let you know that there are rooms within the Slytherin quarters themselves which have been spelled in such a way that any magic practiced there can be neither detected nor traced. The largest of these is behind the fifth bookcase on the left in the Slytherin library. I'm sure you'll be able to work out how to get in there by yourself. But I will give you one clue – snakes."

Lucius frowned. "How do you know all this, father? I've never heard anyone mention secret rooms within the Slytherin quarters themselves."

"I know first hand that they exist, my dear son," Abraxas replied. "I myself used them on a number of occasions during my time at Hogwarts. Although I cannot take the credit for having rediscovered them, as it were; no, it was the Dark Lord himself who achieved that feat."

"And if my fellow Slytherins enquire as to the name of the Dark Lord's… organisation, as it were?" Lucius asked.

"Then tell them that they should be honoured to be serving the ideals of the Knights of Walpurgis under Lord Voldemort" Abraxas replied, smiling coldly. "Now go and do some work. You have much sharpening up to do if you are to be ready to train others in this most complex yet wonderful of arts."

"Yes, father" Lucius replied and he left the room. Snakes? What did his father mean, snakes? He had a lot of work to do if he wished to figure that one out before returning to Hogwarts in the New Year.

* * *

As it turned out, Lucius failed to figure out his father's clue before he returned to Hogwarts, which led to his spending countless nights in the Slytherin library with Talaus, trying in vain to figure out what his father had meant.

"I wish he had just been straightforward and told you what the bloody hell he meant," Talaus spat, angrily scribbling out part of his arithmancy essay. "And I wish you'd tell me why you're suddenly so obsessed with finding this room anyway. It seems rather ridiculous to me; you're turning into a Gryffindor!"

Lucius decided to ignore his friend's comment. He had decided that it would not be prudent to inform Talaus of his true reasons for attempting to find this secret room until after said room had been found. He didn't entirely trust Talaus Pyrites not to go round blabbing to the whole of Slytherin house that Lucius Malfoy was going to train all willing and capable students in the Dark Arts. When they finally did start training he knew that this wouldn't be a problem, as he could always place Talaus under a vow that would have rather unpleasant consequences for him if he broke it. Hair loss, perhaps, or boils, or possibly even just wrinkles: he could think of nothing that would horrify Talaus more. The boy was impossibly vain.

"I mean seriously," Talaus was muttering again, "what did he mean, snakes? There are bloody snakes everywhere in this part of the castle."

"Hardly surprising considering we're in the Slytherin quarters," Lucius replied, exasperated by Talaus' comment. Was the boy really so stupid, or was he just prone to speaking before he thought? Lucius strongly suspected – and hoped for the latter. "You do realise that you're beginning to sound like a Gryffindor, Tal. 'There are bloody snakes everywhere' – honestly!"

Talaus glared at him. "Don't do that, Lucius; it's incredibly annoying. And besides, you've no right to talk to me like that, not if you want me to help you find the entrance to that room your looking for."

"You know no more than me."

"Oh don't I?" Talaus replied. "Well I take it you've already taken a look at the bookcases then. You do realise that that one over in the far corner has a snake inscribed on the side of it? I would have mentioned it earlier but I forgot about it until you began to annoy me so much that I think I'm now at risk of getting wrinkles."

Lucius hadn't noticed any such detail, but of course he wasn't going to give Talaus the satisfaction of knowing that he had spotted something that even the great Lucius Malfoy had missed.

* * *

Later that evening, when he was quite certain that every other Slytherin would be asleep or otherwise occupied, Lucius Malfoy decided to follow Talaus Pyrites' hint and inspect the bookcase in the far corner of the Slytherin library. It was hidden away enough that Lucius was certain that even if any insomniacs or prefects happened to inspect the common room they wouldn't detect any movement up in the Slytherin library.

He looked at the bookcase, which was full of ancient, rather outdated books on muggles of all things. He wrinkled his nose in disgust. Books on muggles, here in the Slytherin quarters? No wonder no one went to this part of the library. What had Talaus been doing looking at books on muggles? He sincerely hoped that his associate had more sense than to be developing muggle-loving, bloodtraitor tendencies. He shook the thought from his mind almost immediately; no, Talaus would never be so stupid. He was a Slytherin and a pureblood through and through, and Lucius knew that he would be one of the most devoted to the Dark Lord's cause as soon as Lucius informed him of what was going on.

Lucius turned his attention away from the books to the bookcase itself, hoping that Talaus' information might actually provide something of use. Of course he didn't expect that to be the case, but it was worth acting on it anyway: Slytherins of all people knew that every possibility had to be investigated. Unfortunately Talaus' information seemed to have been ungrounded, as he could make out no sign of a snake anywhere on the bookcase.

Lucius glared at it, wondering whether a particularly vicious stare would force the elusive snake out of its hiding place. It had to be somewhere in this library or his father wouldn't have mentioned it; he wouldn't go wasting Lucius' precious time, especially not when it came to anything related to their service to the Dark Lord. He really needed to find this snake.

It was as if the bookcase had somehow heard his thoughts, as a silvery-coloured carving of a snake appeared in the very spot he had been glowering at for the past few minutes. Lucius blinked: that certainly had not been there before. Perhaps Talaus really did have a point. Lucius wondered whether he should thank the other boy later on but almost immediately decided against it. It wouldn't do to acknowledge that Talaus Pyrites had managed to note something that he, Lucius Malfoy, had failed to spot. If he did that then the other boy would gloat insufferably for weeks, and Lucius didn't trust himself not to kill – or at the very least severely maim the other boy if that were to happen.

Lucius reached out and touched the snake, which, to his surprise, then turned and hissed at him as though it were alive. Lucius jumped back in surprise then shook his head. What was he doing, jumping back from a snake (and not even a real one at that) like some frightened mudblood Hufflepuff. This really was ridiculous, and besides, he had work to be getting on with.

He reached out and brushed the snake with his fingertips. It coiled around his hand and he froze momentarily, but then he remembered that it really was imperative that he found the place his father had mentioned so he could begin training others in the Dark Arts like the Dark Lord had commanded. With that the snake curled all the way up his arm and the bookcase swung open, revealing a long, dark passage.

Lucius wondered whether it would be too Gryffindorish a thing to do if he were to investigate, but then he decided that investigation was rather necessary in this case. He really had to have a room to practice in, and if this was the one that his father had mentioned to him (and he was almost certain that it was) then he had no reason not to investigate. The possible positives if this _was_ a room in which he could begin teaching the Dark Arts to his fellow Slytherins far outweighed the possibly negatives – such as encountering a hex or two or having to jink something in that corridor.

With that in mind Lucius stepped into the passage. He suppressed a shudder as the bookcase slammed shut behind him, leaving him momentarily in complete darkness until torches began to flicker into life along the walls of the corridor, shrouding the whole scene in an ethereal green light.

How very Slytherin it all seemed, Lucius mused. Yes, this was most certainly the place his father and the Dark Lord had instructed him to find. He continued making his way down the corridor, trying not to pay any attention to the stench of damp that lingered here. It didn't have surprise him (they were under the Great Lake itself, after all) but that didn't make it any less unpleasant.

Finally the passageway opened up into a cavernous room. The ceiling towered above him to such a height that he could barely discern it among the shadows. The walls of the room were perfectly rounded, too, and the same glittering green torches were present here as lit the passageway and the Slytherin quarters proper. There was no doubt in his mind that this was the place that his father had instructed him to find: the very walls here tingled with the residue of ancient dark magic. Yes, he would bring his Slytherins (for he was already thinking of them all as _his_) to these quarters and begin training them immediately.

Lucius headed away from the cavernous, back to the Slytherin library. He wondered momentarily how he was going to get out, as the bookcase had slammed shut behind him when he'd entered the corridor, but luckily it opened as soon as he came close to it.

Lucius had just managed to slip out of the passageway, the bookcase closing itself silently behind him, and sit down at one of the nearby tables when Augustus Rookwood came round the corner. He caught sight of Lucius and glared suspiciously at him. This was just his luck, Lucius cursed, to be caught outside his dormitory after hours by the Head Boy.

"Why are you up so late?" Rookwood asked, sounding vaguely amused rather than annoyed like Lucius had expected.

"I was looking for some information that might help me complete my herbology essay if you must know, Rookwood," Lucius said curtly.

"Of course, Malfoy," Rookwood said, suppressing a laugh. "Because we all know that you love herbology so much that you'd be sitting up and trying to finish an essay four days before it's actually due in. Come now, you're a Slytherin; you're supposed to be a better liar than that. For Salazar's sake, if you're attempting to get hold of Dark Arts stuff then just beg Bellatrix Black; I'm sure she's got some rather interesting texts on the subject."

It was Lucius' turn to suppress a laugh now. He knew very well that Bellatrix Black was rather fond of the Dark Arts – and he also knew that his knowledge of the subject had far surpassed hers a long time ago.

Rookwood either didn't notice the amused glint in his eyes or he chose to overlook it. "Get to bed, Malfoy. We all know you're as bad as Pyrites when you don't get your beauty sleep."

Lucius was half-tempted to throw a witty retort in the prefect's direction but he decided against it. It really wouldn't be worth the hassle; trying to outwit Augustus Rookwood would probably be about as productive as staring a Basilisk straight in the eye.

It was only when he was climbing into bed that Lucius realised why his father had told Lucius to find the room for himself rather than telling him where it was from the start; the room only made itself known to those who really, truly wanted to make use of it. Salazar Slytherin had embedded his attitude even into the castle itself, it seemed.

* * *

"You're going to do _what_?" Talaus exclaimed, looking like a crup that had been given a fresh bone.

"Will you keep your voice down," Lucius hissed. He knew that mentioning this to Talaus and Nyctimus on the way to breakfast wasn't the best idea he'd had recently, but it was the only time he could think of where both of them would actually be listening to him at the same time. "I already _told _you – I'm starting up a Dark Arts Club. Just for a few of us purebloods, don't worry," he said, catching sight of the suspicious look on Nyctimus' face.

The other boy relaxed immediately. "Thank Salazar," he muttered. "We really couldn't be doing with Mudbloods learning the Dark Arts, now could we?"

"Of course not," Lucius replied. "I've yet to meet a single one who could handle the Dark Arts with the care and respect they deserve."

"You sound like my father," Talaus muttered, sounding not so much annoyed as exasperated.

"Meaning what, Tal?" Lucius asked coldly.

"Meaning you sound… old. You know, like you've been studying this sort of thing for ages," Talaus explained.

Lucius raised a thing, silvery eyebrow. "And who's to say I haven't been studying 'this sort of thing' for a long time?"

His fellow third years looked at him in shock.

"But you're only in third year!" Nyctimus exclaimed. "How can you have been studying the Arts for a long time?"

Lucius took note of Nyctimus' euphemism (the 'Arts' was so much more ambiguous and so much less incriminating than the 'Dark Arts'), then sighed and began to explain.

"My father thought it appropriate to begin teaching me such things the summer after I'd completed the first year," he said. "He'd intended to wait until I was fourteen, but he decided to begin things rather earlier."

Nyctimus glared at him, envy obvious in his gaze.

"Father refuses to teach me anything until I turn sixteen," he muttered.

"And _I _am telling you that I'm willing to begin teaching you now, Nyctimus, so there's nothing for you to be complaining about any more, now is there?"

Nyctimus nodded, a sly smile creeping onto his face. "So, who else shall we notify about that."

"Anyone whom you think would be loyal to the cause of Lord Voldemort," Lucius replied. Upon spotting the blank expressions on his companions' faces he deduced that further explanation was necessary; evidently they had yet to hear of the great Dark Lord. "Basically anyone you know who is a pureblood – and a true pureblood at that. We don't want to be wasting our precious time on bloodtraitors, now do we?

"Our first meeting will be next Thursday evening at nine-o-clock. Gather as many people as you think is appropriate and meet me in the Slytherin library. I'll lead the way from there."

* * *

When Thursday evening came around, Lucius found more people than he had expected waiting for him in the Slytherin library, all with either eager, curious or power-hungry stares on their faces. They were a curious lot, the oldest there being Linus Travers, whom Lucius had always expected had rather an affinity for the Dark Arts, and the youngest being Alecto and Amycus Carrow, a pair of rather hideous looking, rat-faced first year twins of whom Lucius was not fond, but whom he expected would easily be bent to the Dark Lord's will when the time came. He noted that there were no sixth or seventh years present – he assumed that they were either horrified by the idea that a third year thought himself skilled enough to have anything to teach them, or they simply didn't know what Lucius had going on that evening, though he strongly suspected the former.

Lucius waited five minutes, then when he was quite certain that no one else was coming, he turned and stared at the bookcase, willing the silver serpent to appear and grant him the right to use the hidden room. The serpent appeared in a matter of moments this time (it was far easier to summon it now that he knew exactly where to look) and as soon as the bookcase swung open Lucius began to lead his fellow Slytherins down the cold, stone passageway and into the cavernous room.

He heard a few gasps as the entered the room and looked around to see that even Travers could not entirely mask the look of wonder in his eyes. Evidently they had all had even less idea than he that such a place existed. This made Lucius wonder how the Dark Lord had discovered this room in the first place. Perhaps his desire to study advanced magic in secret had been so strong that the serpent had materialised before him without him ever having to command it outright to show itself – or perhaps there was something deeper in it, Lucius didn't know.

Talaus leaned over to Lucius and hissed, "I told you so."

"You may have pointed out the snake to me in the first place, Tal, but even you couldn't have expected that this was what was hidden there," Lucius shot back. He turned around to face the crowd of expectant-looking faces and began to speak. "As you all know, I've called you here in order to teach you the Dark Arts. Dark Magic is the most powerful of all, and that is why it is so expressly forbidden by the fools who run this place. They want us to be weak while our enemies grow stronger! So I have decided to follow the example set by the Durmstrang Institute and begin passing my knowledge of the Dark Arts onto you, my fellow Slytherins. You are all here because you are purebloods and you are Slytherins – and we of this damned house of Salazar must rise up against the muggle-loving blood traitors in order to protect not only our own purity but the purity of the wizarding world as a whole." A cheer rose up from a number of those in front of him and Lucius smirked slightly. Excellent – things were going exactly as he had planned. He noticed Nyctimus rolling his eyes at the smug look on Lucius' face, but Lucius decided he could overlook that for now.

"We'll start with something simple," Lucius said. "The gastronicontortious curse ought to do." He caught sight of a few horrified looks. "What were you expecting to be studying – the jellylegs jinx?" He sneered at them. "If you don't like it then leave now: but be warned, the consequences will be dire if anyone whom this does not concern finds out about it." A few people paled at that but no one moved. "Excellent. We'll begin shortly. Now, who wants to be our test subject for the evening?"

* * *

"Malfoy," someone shouted, breaking the silence that had until the cloaked the Slytherin library, "we need a word with you."

Lucius' first instinct was to completely ignore whomever it was that had decided to interrupt him whilst he was working, but then he caught a glimpse of whom it was that had called him out of the corner of his eye. Rodolphus Lestrange was standing right behind him, hellfire blazing in his eyes. Whatever Rodolphus wanted him for, he could be sure that it wasn't anything good, and Lucius knew that while he would almost certainly get berated if he went with him, he would probably get severely cursed if he didn't.

His initial thought was to let him try (seventh years or not, he knew he had a fair chance of beating Lestrange in a duel) but then he saw Augustus Rookwood and decided that it really would be in his best interests to go. Rumour had it (and rumour in Slytherin was almost always fact) that Head Boy been offered a place in the Department of Mysteries already, and as such he was one person whom Lucius did not want to cross.

Lucius got slowly to his feet, tucking the book he had been reading under his arm, and nodded to the two seventh years.

"What do you want with me Rookwood, Lestrange?" Lucius asked quietly.

"Like I said, we need a word," Rodolphus hissed, grabbing Lucius by the arm (the one that wasn't clutching his book, luckily) and dragging him down the stairs into the common room itself.

The first thing Lucius noticed was that the common room was empty apart from one, dark, rather insane girl who was sprawled across the armchair nearest the fire, the flames of which were making her look ill as well as mad, as though she had just been released from Azkaban. It was Bellatrix Black.

Rodolphus shoved Lucius away from him and Lucius sank gracefully into the chair opposite Bellatrix, not pleased at all with the way things were going. He was alone in a room with three of the most feared students Slytherin had produced in a long time, and he had absolutely no idea what they wanted him for.

His question was soon answered, as it wasn't long before Rodolphus spoke. "Our sources tell us that you've been teaching other students the Dark Arts, Malfoy."

"And if I have?" Lucius asked, his lip curling with annoyance.

"Well, that's just the thing; you should leave the teaching of the Dark Arts to those of us who actually know how to practice them," Rookwood drawled.

"Have you considered that perhaps I know more than you would give me credit for?" Lucius said coldly.

Bellatrix and Rodolphus began to laugh but Rookwood actually seemed to take him seriously.

"Even if that's the case I don't see why you felt the need to pass this knowledge on to other students – some of which are first years, no less," Rookwood said.

"I'm only doing what I've been commanded to do," Lucius said shortly, not feeling quite up to the task of explaining his service to the Dark Lord to these three.

Bellatrix howled with manic laughter again. "Commanded? _Commanded_? And who is it that's commanded you to teach to ickle ones Dark Magic, hmm, Little Lucius?" Bellatrix said in that mocking baby-voice she so often used. It made Lucius feel physically sick.

"I am at the command of the Dark Lord and the Knights of Walpurgis," Lucius snapped back, now seeing no reason why he should hide that from one such as Bellatrix Black who, mad as she was, would likely agree with the Dark Lord's ideals.

Bellatrix plainly didn't believe a single word that Lucius had just said. "You serve the Dark Lord, do you now, Malfoy? Is this the Dark Lord that lives under your bed and terrifies you into submission by giving you horrible nightmares? Aaaw, poor Little Lucius."

Lucius felt his lip curl with disgust. Bellatrix Black truly did bring new dimensions to the word 'infuriating'.

"Insult me one more time and you'll be tasting black magic, Black," Lucius snarled. Bellatrix laughed. "You think I'm joking?"

"You can issue an official challenge if you're serious, Malfoy," Augustus Rookwood drawled, not even deigning to look up from his book.

Rodolphus Lestrange looked at him, aghast. "Come off it, Augustus! He's only a bloody third year. There's no way a third year could ever become the Slytherin Leader. That just doesn't happen."

"It has before," Rookwood corrected him. "When your father was at school one of his classmates because the Slytherin Leader in his second year. For Malfoy, as a third year, to challenge for it would be surprising, yes, but not unprecedented."

Bellatrix began to laugh again and it was then that Lucius made up his mind.

"In that case I, Lucius Ajax Malfoy, officially challenge you, Bellatrix Dorea Black, for the title of Slytherin Leader, the one with the greatest control over the happenings within this house," he said solemnly. Bellatrix stopped laughing immediately and glowered at him.

"Alright, little Lucius. Seeing as you have issued the challenge, I'll chose the time and place for us to duel," she said smoothly. "One in the morning, Saturday, the Forbidden Forest."

Lucius froze. Saturday? That gave him almost no time to prepare. Then again he didn't really need it – he was quite confident that he could beat Bellatrix Black in his sleep.

Then a thought occurred to him. "I know a much safer place for us to duel, Bellatrix – a place where no one will ever be able to trace out magic."

He wasn't entirely certain whether showing Bellatrix the secret room was a good idea, but he had a feeling that doing so might just work to his advantage.

* * *

"You've done _what_?" Nyctimus was looking at Lucius, absolutely aghast.

"I've challenged Bellatrix Black for the position of Slytherin Leader," Lucius repeated, wondering how many times he would have to say it before his year-mates understood what he was intending to do.

"You're mad, Lucius," Nyctimus stated. "You're absolutely mad. No matter how skilled you are, Bellatrix is a seventh year and you're only a third year. Even if you do win there's no way that she'll ever admit defeat."

"Then I'll just have to make her admit defeat, won't I?" Lucius snarled.

"And how to you intend to do that, exactly?"

"I have my ways," Lucius replied. "Now are you two going to accompany me on Saturday or not? It'll be rather wonderful when I manage to get Bellatrix Black grovelling at my feet."

Nyctimus and Talaus glanced at each other then nodded. Both of them knew that they really didn't have a choice in the matter after all.

* * *

Lucius leaned back against the wall of the cavern. The walls here were unexpectedly smooth, but he put that down to erosion. After all, the only man-made things in this place were the torches and the protective spells; the cavern itself, he had figured out, was a perfectly natural construct, one that Salazar Slytherin had cleverly used to his advantage.

"Are you _sure _that this is a good idea?" Talaus was hissing at him, but Lucius wasn't really paying attention.

"Of _course_ it is, Tal," he replied. "If I back out now then I'll lose face, and there's nothing worse than losing face. You're a Slytherin, you should know that!"

Talaus looked as though he was about to protest but he was cut short as Bellatrix Black entered the room, accompanied by what seemed to be over half of Slytherin House. Lucius hadn't been expecting that, but he supposed it was hardly surprising; she had always been the type to put on a show, and one really couldn't have a show without an audience.

Rodolphus Lestrange walked over to where Lucius was standing, then grabbed Talaus and Nyctimus, dragging them away from him.

"We can afford to have anyone other than you or Bellatrix getting hurt," Rookwood explained as Lucius shot Rodolphus a withering look. "One or two people in the Hospital Wing we can explain away; ten or twenty we cannot."

With that Rookwood walked away from him as well. The spectators had gathered around the edges of the cavern, leaving only Bellatrix and Lucius in the middle, facing one another.

"This is you're last chance to save yourself and back out," Bellatrix said to him.

"I'm never going to do that, Black, and well you know it," Lucius snarled back.

"Then please begin," Bellatrix yawned. "I'd really rather be in bed right now, but it seems that fate has handed me the task of leaving your remains on the walls of the cavern for the House Elves to clean up."

"Serpensortia!" Lucius shouted, causing a long, black snake to appear out of the end of his wand. Bellatrix jumped back, startled that he had begun to duel without any warning, and vanished the snake, which gave Lucius time to fire a silent gastronicontortious curse in her direction. Bellatrix seemed to sense this, however, and flung up a shield just in time to deflect the spell.

"Non-verbal magic, hmm?" Bellatrix asked. "I must confess I'm impressed, Little Lucius. But you'll have to do better than that to defeat me!" She too seemed to be using non-verbal magic now, unfortunately for Lucius, as a streak of fire rushed straight past him, biting through his arm. He had enough sense to extinguish the flames whilst dodging Bellatrix's next cure, but he couldn't do anything to get rid of the pain.

Lucius gritted his teeth. This was almost enough to make him think that challenging Bellatrix Black to a duel hadn't been the best idea he'd ever had – then suddenly it dawned on him. He had known the way to win this duel all along. They couldn't trace any of the spells that were being used here, couldn't even sense them, so he wasn't going to suffer any repercussions because of his actions. His mind was made up.

"Imperio," Lucius whispered, willing Bellatrix Black's will to bend, willing her to bow to him, to declare him the head of Slytherin. He would posses her, control her every move, her every thought. She would bow to him. He saw her struggle but he knew that he had almost managed to break her.

"Imperio," he whispered again. This time Bellatrix sunk low to the floor and kissed the hem of his robes.

"Now tell me that I am the leader of the Slytherins," Lucius commanded her.

He could see Bellatrix struggling against his curse, but in the end she had no choice but to bend to his will.

"You are… the leader of… the Slytherins… my lord." No matter how hard she struggled against them, the words escaped Bellatrix's lips. She slumped to the ground, defeated, and a cheer rose up among the crowd as people realised the complexity – and illegality of the spell he had just used. He truly was a master of the Dark Arts. Bellatrix's days were over: she had finally been defeated. Lucius had won.

That was how, halfway through his third year, Lucius Ajax Malfoy established his place as the most powerful member of Slytherin House.


End file.
